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Next spring, Volkswagen will launch the Golf-based Tiguan, which represents its first foray into the compact 4x4 market. It will also sound the death knell for Volkswagen's long-lived PD TDI engines.

Having finally accepted that the ageing pumpe duse (unit injector) technology has been surpassed in terms of refinement and efficiency by nearly every other rival, Volkswagen will fall into line with accepted wisdom and fit its new 2.0-litre four-cylinder engines with a high-pressure, common-rail fuel system to the Tiguan.

However, there's much more to come: two engines that look to maximise the benefits of both diesel and petrol engines are currently under development.

VW's new petrol engines will use highly accurate fuel injection and a new type of combustion process, known as GCI (gasoline compression ignition). With GCI, exhaust gases are mixed with petrol to create an explosive charge without the need for a spark plug. The results are greater fuel economy and a significant decrease in emissions.

Similar experimental technology is being brought to bear on a diesel-based engine known as the CCS (combined combustion system), which, along with even greater fuel efficiency, will be able to run on the new biofuels of the future.